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Today The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) announced that a technology called Adaptive-Sync will become standard for the DisplayPort 1.2a specification. If that sounds like gibberish to you, here’s the takeaway: It’s great news for AMD’s Project FreeSync, and for gamers seeking an alternative to Nvidia’s G-Sync.

At its heart, Adaptive Sync enables a monitor using a DisplayPort video input to match the refresh rate of the content, which tends to vary dramatically in gaming. As Nvidia showed us with G-Sync, when a GPU’s framerate output is at odds with a monitor’s refresh rate, you get artifacts like screen tearing. Forcing a fixed framerate is simply the other side of an evil coin, resulting in stutter and input lag.

“DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync enables a new approach in display refresh technology,” said Syed Athar Hussain, Display Domain Architect, AMD and VESA Board Vice Chairman. “Instead of updating a monitor at a constant rate, Adaptive-Sync enables technologies that match the display update rate to the user’s content, enabling power efficient transport over the display link and a fluid, low-latency visual experience.”

English: An example of a DisplayPort cable (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

AMD’s Project FreeSync works in concert with this technology, providing adaptive framerate syncing on the driver side of things. This means that users wishing to embrace the technology will need a compatibile Radeon graphics card and a monitor supporting Adaptive-Sync. From what I understand, the advantage to AMD’s solution is that Nvidia’s G-Sync technology requires proprietary monitors with custom modules built in, while AMD’s will tap into an open industry standard. If we assume that all monitors with DisplayPort inputs going forward will utilize the standard (a safe assumption), then AMD’s solution should come at a lesser cost.

I’ve reached out to Nvidia asking if and how this development will affect G-Sync moving forward.

In the meantime, here’s a meaty Q&A from AMD’s Robert Hallock which should answer all your burning questions about Adaptive Sync, its features, and its availability.

Q: What is DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync?A: DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync is a new addition to the DisplayPort™ 1.2a specification, ported from the embedded DisplayPort™ v1.0 specification. DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync provides an industry-standard mechanism that enables real-time adjustment of a monitor’s refresh rate of a display over a DisplayPort™ link

Q: What is Project FreeSync?A: Project FreeSync is an AMD effort to leverage industry standards, like DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync, to deliver dynamic refresh rates. Dynamic refresh rates synchronize the refresh rate of a compatible monitor to the framerate of a user’s AMD Radeon™ graphics to reduce or eliminate stuttering, juddering and/or tearing during gaming and video playback.

Q: Is DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync the industry-standard version of Project FreeSync? A: The DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync specification was ported from the Embedded DisplayPort™ specification through a proposal to the VESA group by AMD. DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync is an ingredient feature of a DisplayPort™ link and an industry standard that enables technologies like Project FreeSync

Q: What are the requirements to use FreeSync?A: To take advantage of the benefits of Project FreeSync, users will require: a monitor compatible with DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync, a compatible AMD Radeon™ GPU with a DisplayPort™ connection, and a compatible AMD Catalyst™ graphics driver. AMD plans to release a compatible graphics driver to coincide with the introduction of the first DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync monitors.

Q: When can I buy a monitor compatible with Project FreeSync?A: AMD has undertaken every necessary effort to enable Project FreeSync in the display ecosystem. Monitor vendors are now integrating the DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync specification and productizing compatible displays. AMD is working closely with these vendors to bring products to market, and we expect compatible monitors within 6-12 months.

Q: What AMD Radeon™ GPUs are compatible with Project FreeSync?A: The first discrete GPUs compatible with Project FreeSync are the AMD Radeon™ R9 290X, R9 290, R7 260X and R7 260 graphics cards. Project FreeSync is also compatible with AMD APUs codenamed “Kabini,” “Temash,” “Beema,” and “Mullins.” All compatible products must be connected via DisplayPort™ to a display that supports DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync.

Q: How is Project Freesync different from NVIDIANVIDIA G-Sync?A: While both technologies have similar benefits, G-Sync uses expensive and proprietary hardware. In contrast, Project FreeSync utilizes the industry-standard DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync specification to promote wider adoption, lower cost of ownership, and a broad ecosystem of compatibility.

Q: Why should gamers purchase a system that utilizes Project FreeSync?A: Project FreeSync’s ability to synchronize the refresh rate of a display to the framerate of a graphics card can eliminate visual artifacts that many gamers are especially sensitive to: screen tearing, input lag, and stuttering. Project FreeSync aims to accomplish this through an open ecosystem that does not require licensing fees from participants, which encourages broad adoption and low end-user costs.

Q: What is the supported range of refresh rates with FreeSync and DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync?A: AMD Radeon™ graphics cards will support a wide variety of dynamic refresh ranges with Project FreeSync. Using DisplayPort™ Adaptive-Sync, the graphics card can detect and set an appropriate maximum and minimum refresh rate based on the capabilities reported by the display. Potential ranges include 36-240Hz, 21-144Hz, 17-120Hz and 9-60Hz.

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